Thursday, July 26, 2018

Family of transgender woman killed in Orlando sets up GoFundMe to pay for funeral

The family of Sasha Garden, a transgender woman whose body was found at the back of an Orlando apartment complex last week, has set up a GoFundMe to pay for her funeral.

Garden's mother, Sharon Daniels, created a fundraiser asking for $10,000 to pay for the cost of bringing Garden's body home to Milwaukee, Wisconsin from Orlando and for any other burial costs.

Orange County Sheriff's Office deputies found the 27-year-old woman dead July 19 at the back of the Reserve at Lake Buchanan Apartments on Holden Avenue around 5 a.m. Investigators have described her death as a "homicide" and said her body had signs of trauma. OCSO has not identified any suspects so far.

Garden's cousin, Yolanda Davis, remembered Garden as a beautiful person with an open heart.

"Sasha was just Sasha," she said. "Her biggest thing was to provide for her family. She didn’t take shit. She was always a kind person. Everybody has their mean days – ain’t nobody perfect. But at the end of the day she was genuine. She didn’t sugarcoat it."

LGBTQ advocates fear Garden's death is connected to the murders of three other black transgender women who were killed within the past five months in Jacksonville.
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